Mom-Day Adventure: The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific

Hello, my friends! Block off your schedule, this is a BIG post, full of gardens and flowers and trees. Yes, it's a Mom-Day Adventure! And we finally made it to Glendale Gardens, aka the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, and wow, what an amazing place it is! 

What to wear? Shoes first - I knew Mom had taken her folks there when they were in their 70s/80s, so it would be okay to wear a small heel. If a wheelchair can make it through, so can these shoes. 

And then this vintage jammy dress leapt out at me.

• Dress - Styled by Adrian, vintage 60s, thrifted; last worn here in April 2020 as a Mental Health outfit
• Shoes - Channi B; last seen here in May for both Mom's birthday and my first vaccine jab
• Leather blazer (below) - /id Collection, thrifted; last seen here in April with tiger and florals

It's another dress where I'm lucky if I can sneak in a wearing of it annually. 

So many dresses, so little time! 

I should do a Flashback on it at some point (I've had it for over five years), but not today. Suffice to say, it's beautiful and unique and I love it.

We have other things to get to! 

The weather is supposed to verge into coolness and rainy business within the next few days, so I layered up with a vintage full slip underneath. 

The seams on this dress are a bit itchy (it has lame - I mean, lah-MAY! - thread in it). I also wore nylons. I thought I was going to be chilled - I was so wrong.

I took my pastel aqua leather blazer. You know, in case I got cold. *snort*

"I always dress up for Mom-Day," I told a couple of people at the gardens who noticed my splendor. 

This is how I appeared to the world at large. It ended up being hot out, with the sun overhead, and temps around 25.

Both Mom and I put our coats in her car halfway through our day. 

I was never anywhere close to buttoning the jacket up. At least you can see my mask. 

By the time Mom and I wrapped up our afternoon, I was literally dripping with sweat. Thank goodness for the slip or I would have sweated in my dress. 

• Mask - by Mom

The stuff: 

These shoes are practically flats with that generous platform. 

Blue and green bling: 

Ooh, it's all matchy! My heart is happy. 

• Purse - Roadrunner, Enid Collins, vintage 70s, consignment
• Turquoise/crystal cuff - Myka, consignment
• Rabbit fur puff brooch - Catawumpus
• Bug brooch - vintage fair
• Earrings - Sherman, vintage 60s, thrifted
• Fulvia Ring - Wendy Brandes
• Gold/crystal ring - Mom's, vintage 70s
• Green crystal bracelet - vintage 60s, Mom's

Mom told me her mother (my Gram) brought the green crystal ring back from a trip to Scotland. Aw! 

Okay, pull up a seat, my friends. No need to crowd, I saved you a bench. Do you need some tea?

Mom picked me up in the late morning, and we headed out to the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific (HCP) - link here, always 'cause I love. It's her favourite place in all of Victoria to go get a dose of nature, and I've never been there. 

First, we have Mom's outfit. Looking sharp in a cute cropped pant and dotted top (bought second-hand). 

The blue Jacques Vert jacket is a gift from me (thrifted), and the long gold necklace is one from Joyce (Mom's best friend Kathy's mum - I have a couple of dresses from Joyce). Mom pointed out that the gold matched the gold grommets on her trousers - nice matching! 

We arrived - loads of parking, but it was quite busy - and paid our entry. Mom bought herself a membership, which allowed her one free guest (me!). 

She's planning on bringing more friends and family here, as well as members of her art group. I would totally go back. 

This is the grand entryway after you come in through the secure deer gate (deer + gardens = no gardens). 

A tortoise! This one's for you, Vix! This stone "Jacob" was gazing at the burbling water coming out of a rock fountain, which you can see in the previous pic. Note the lovely pink water lily. 

The corner of the administrative building and gift shop. 

There's a restaurant around that corner to the left where we had a late lunch. 

Stairs leading down - the entry area has a cluster of buildings (education centre, sheds, etc.) and is on top of a hill - Victoria is a very hilly place. 

Mom, step away from the plant sale! 

"We're going."

We did, before we left. Mom knows what she wants, and she gets it. 

There are two orchard areas which are currently full of ready-to-harvest apples and pears. 

Red apples! 

Most of the areas have these signs (click to embiggen any picture), but we just kept right and worked our way around. 

It's a good rule of thumb. 

We...headed right! 

This is the natural vegetation of this area - this all feels very familiar and comforting to me. Pines, Douglas firs, salal and ferns. 

There are benches everywhere. 

Tucked off the paths, up their own little paths. 

An inukshuk! It's saying, "Keep going right."

Have you heard of these? Link here to the Canadian Encyclopedia (I had no idea there was such a thing!).

Another Japanese garden! 

This is the Takata Japenese Garden, named after the same gentleman who created the Gorge Park that we visited last week (here).

It took a long time to build this! 

Mom used to come here and paint en plein air in the gardens - I recognized this view from one of her paintings. 

That is picturesque as hell. 

A little wooden walkway crossed over this pool, which drains down the hill to another pond at the bottom. 

The gurgle of water filled the air. 

Walking around the pond and looking at the bridge again. 

See the small waterfall at the bottom? Gurgling.

Mom and I had silly grins on our faces for the whole time - it's so beautiful. 

The sun dappled through the trees that towered over our heads. 

The bridge! 

We didn't actually go over it. 

Instead, we kept right! 

To the Bonsai Garden! 

This was a huge space, set up for quiet contemplation. 

Check out this bonsai.

That was only about 18" tall. 

The whole section was open, with benches so you could just contemplate, be Zen and look at all the bonsai trees. 

The HPC does classes and events here, including bonsai. 

We headed down to the lower field.

I spy a big fat hydrangea beside Mom. 

The stream gurgled along on our right. 

More stream, more gurgling. 

That's looking back at the bridge from below. 

Don't be fooled - this bridge is only six inches tall! 

Miniature anything appeals to me immensely. If I had a garden, it would be full of fairy houses and red bridges. I'd be that weird lady.

Here's where the stream ended - in a lovely pond covered in lily pads. 

It was buzzing with bees and humming dragonflies. 

So pretty. Wait a minute...what's that in the corner?

It's a MERMAID! 

That is incredibly awesome. There were works of art all through the HCP. I love sculpture in gardens. 

Working our way around the pond. 

More water lilies. 

What a lovely arbour. 

I adore a tunnel of greenery. 

We ended up back at the winter garden, and continued down. 

We'd both abandoned our coats by this time. 

I think this is part of the Spiral Garden. 

I know about 2% of these plants. Succulents! 

The lower field - I had Mom take a picture of me under this arch. 

I spy a gazebo! 

Wait, what is that on the left? Ruins?

It's a freakin' folly! Wow! I need to transport this to my street for outfit photos.

I spotted this couple from an upper path. 

So when I was on the lower field, I had to go check them out. 

They remind me of two people walking their dogs. This field was full of Canada goose poop, which are pests. You can see a gaggle of them in the background, hissing and being cranky. And pooping. Seriously, it was EVERYWHERE. My poor shoes (I gave them a good clean, and was very careful where I stepped). 

The Farm Garden. 

I think the restaurant gets their veggies from here. 

These spent blooms left behind really interesting shapes. 

Look at this amazing sculpture - actually there are two here. One is on the left and incorporates shovels; the other is the bench/gate area.

I think the Head Gardener might be a hobbit.

Pinecones and fir cones are starting to fall. 

This is the Great Lawn.

The light section beyond is a marsh area, left natural. This area is rural, not many houses. 

These hydrangea blossoms were bigger than my head! 

I like the creepy tentacle-like stalks in front. 

You gardeners, do you grow circular squash? 

That's a new one to me. 

This is a gigantic eucalyptus (this ones' for Mica!). 

Some beautiful ripe pears. 

Yum. 

Looking back from where we've come, as we work our way back to the buildings at the top of the hill. 

I'm starting to get "flower overload. "

Wow, so many flowers. Plants. Trees.

This garden caught my eye. Okay, it was the little house. 

What a lovely haven. 

Oh, this one's for you, Ann! 

Your residential garden is one of my favourites. 

OMG, roses. I love roses. 

ORANGE roses. I have to smell ALL roses. No exceptions. 

But we were getting very hungry by this time. 

Big spiky things! It's a sculpture.

Look at this excellent menu! The restaurant is Charlotte & the Quail, "A special little place." It's named after Charlotte the garden kitty, the quails that live in the gardens, and a play on the location (Quayle Road) - story here. We didn't see Charlotte - she must be offsite due to the ongoing pandemic. 

They were out of our first choice, the Harvest Pie (the place was hopping busy), so Mom had the Golden Breakfast, and I had the Oatmeal Pancakes. 

The seating has been reduced, and like most service places, they were understaffed. 

That was fine by us - we had nowhere to go. Plus, duh, chilling out together in such a gorgeous place?

The food took a while but was worth it. We tipped our poor harried server generously. 

Most of the food is gluten-free and dairy-free, with many vegan options. The hollandaise on Mom's eggs was made from cashews! I eyed this covetously. That is a bowl full of YUM. The food was amazing, would eat it again. 

This was my Oatmeal Pancakes. I did not realize this was actually a CAKE, made in a PAN - it was like eating a chewy spicy oatmeal cookie. Completely decadent.

It had a spiced local blueberry and blackberry compote and a generous glop of whipped cream. I didn't eat the green thing (a nettle?) but I ate the flowers. I love the vintage plate too. Both Mom and I practically licked our plates, and I was still stuffed hours later - I should have gotten the half-order! 

Can we go back to the roses? Yay! More roses. 

So gorgeous. 

These yellow ones were so fat and heavy. 

A giant cluster of roses - I did quite a bit of flower-fondling here, as I smelled them all. The only section of the entire HCP to rival this was the lavender garden. Intoxicating! 

Mom dragged me over to the fuschia garden. 

Yes, they are fuschias. What about the roses? 

Mom distracted me by pointing out this fat bumblebee. 

The HCP has a birds, bees and butterfly garden - this might be part of it. 

Have some more apples. 

I don't even like apples, and I wanted to pick them. 

We had a quick wander through the children's garden. I liked this "Thyme for Courage" sign. 

Mom pointed out the little rock lizard sunning himself to the right of it. See him? 

Back at the start, but wait! 

Didn't we have one final mission? 

"PLANT SALE!"

"Yes!" Mom is pumping her arm, as she has managed to find a lavender plant and another fuschia, named "David", which is my brother's name. 

What an awesome day! I am still smiling as I write this - this didn't even seem like that many pictures (okay, sorry, it was a lot of pictures).

I left the refection in this selfie - this was when we were waiting to get into the restaurant. Love you, Mom! Thanks for another wonderful Mom-Day Adventure! 

Vizzini was very excited when I got home.

"I am?"

I hope you enjoyed our adventure day!